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February starts warm and foggy

February 03, 2012

February starts warm and foggy

Following the trend of previous months, February started very warm
this week with temperatures ranging from 15 to 25 degrees F warmer than
average. Some observers in western Minnesota reported new record highs
for February 1st including: 50 F at Morris; 51 F at Benson; 52 F at
Ortonville and St James; 55 F at Marshall; and 56 F at Minnesota. On
February 2nd afternoon temperatures again reached the 40s and 50s F in
some places, as Rochester reported a new record high of 48 degrees F.
It was the warmest first two days of February since 1931.

In
addition, along river valleys and in eastern and northern sections of
the state fog was dense and very persistent the first three days of the
month. Almost continuous fog was reported from some southern counties,
along with some freezing fog. In the north, fog, overcast, and
occasional snow flurries prevailed over the first three days of the
month.

High Dew points Too

With the warm temperatures, melting snow,
and fog prevailing this week near record to record-setting dewpoint
values were seen at a number of locations. Dew points ranged from 35-40
degrees F during the day, more typical of April and May. The
condensation produced by high dewpoints made many surfaces wet and
slippery, which combined with the fog contributed to hundreds of traffic
accidents around the state.

Weekly Weather Potpourri

The NOAA-National Weather Service in Alaska reports one of the coldest
Januarys in history there. Nome and Bettles, Alaska reported their
coldest mean January temperature in history, while Fairbanks was 5th
coldest. During the month some observers reported temperatures in the
-60s to -70s F. Noatak, Alaska was still reporting -60 degrees F on
February 2nd. You can read more here.

Heavy snows with blizzard conditions were reported from parts of
Colorado this week. The National Weather Service reported snowfall
rates as much as 2 inches per hour. Portions of Interstates 70 and 25
were closed to traffic for a time, and a weather observer west of Denver
(near Pinecliff) reported 18 inches of new snow by Friday morning.

Heavy
rains continue to fall over southern Madagascar which has seen little
relief in two weeks. Following heavy rain from Cyclone Funso last week,
tropical thunderstorms have continued much of this week. The rains
washed out river banks, flooding hundreds of homes and displacing over
1000 people. More on Cyclone Funso can be found here.

Last week NASA renamed one of its polar orbiting satellites in honor of
the late Professor Verner E. Suomi of the University of Wisconsin. Born
in Eveleth, MN in 1915, Dr. Suomi is called the "father of satellite
meteorology" having developed many of the instruments and tools used
today during his tenure on the faculty of the Space Science and
Engineering Center at UW-Madison, especially in the 1960s and 1970s.

MPR listener question

Which Minnesota locations got the most snow in January, and where has the most seasonal snowfall occurred in the state so far?

Answer:
Northern observers have reported the most snow. In January, Orr and
Kabetogama reported over 16 inches, while Isabella in the highlands of
the Lake Superior north shore reported 17 inches. For the entire snow
season so far Isabella has reported 42 inches, Kabetogama nearly 38
inches, and Gunflint Lake and International Falls just over 32 inches.

Almanac for February 3rd

The average MSP high temperature for this date is 21 degrees F (plus or
minus 15 degrees F standard deviation), while the average low is 4
degrees F (plus or minus 15 degrees standard deviation).

Average dew point for February 3rd is 3 degree F, with a maximum of 32 degrees F in 1924 and a minimum of -37 degrees F in 1923.

All-time state records for February 3rd

Scanning the state climatic data base: the all-time high for this
date is 65 degrees F at Browns Valley (Traverse County) in 1991. The
all-time record low for this date is a very cold -52 degrees F at Itasca
State Park (Clearwater County) in 1996 and at Warroad (Roseau County)
in 1936. The all-time record precipitation amount for this date is 1.50
inches at Red Lake in 2000. State record snowfall for this date is 12.0
inches at Caledonia, Harmony, La Crescent, and Zumbro Falls in 1983.

Past Weather Features:

During
the first few days of February 1886 many observers reported morning
lows of -30 degrees F or colder. Duluth reported a very snowy February,
as half of the days in the month brought snowfall totally over 20
inches.

February of 1934 was one of the warmest and driest in
state history. Many observers reported daytime highs in the 40s on the
3rd, and some reported temperatures in the 40s and 50s F for the
remainder of the month. Places like Milan, Alexandria, Waseca, Morris,
Winnebago, and Tracy saw their driest February of all time with just a
trace of precipitation for the month.

On February 3, 1936 the
state was in the grip of an extended arctic cold wave. Many communities
reported low temperatures of -40 degrees F older. At Roseau the
morning low was -48 degrees F and the afternoon high only made it to -8
degrees F. The Roseau observer did not report a temperature above zero F
until February 8th.

Early February of 1983 brought significant
snowfall to many southern and central communities. Over February 2-3
observers reported 6 to 12 inches of snowfall, which caused school
delays and closed some roads. Caledonia ended up getting over 23 inches
of snowfall that month.

1991 brought one of the warmest Februarys
in state history. Over the first ten days, temperatures averaged 20-30
degrees above average at many Minnesota locations. Many days brought
40s, 50s, and even 60 degrees F.

On February 3, 1996 Tower, MN saw
the thermometer rise 41 degrees F, from a low of -60 degrees F to a
high of -19 degrees F. By February 8th the daytime high was 48 degrees
F, a rise of 108 degrees.

Outlook

Weekend will start out cloudy and mild, but progressively get sunnier.
Temperatures will remain mild, with a good deal of sun on Sunday.
Cooler by Tuesday next week with temperatures falling back closer to
normal. Chance of snow towards the end of next week, but generally dry
across the state until then.